'Active shooters' shoot blanks in unannounced school drill

Teachers at an Oregon school were shocked when two armed, masked men entered during a meeting

By Richard CockleThe Oregonian

HALFWAY — Two masked men wearing hoodies and wielding handguns burst into the Pine Eagle Charter School in this tiny rural community on Friday. Students were at home for an in-service day, so the gunmen headed into a meeting room full of teachers and opened fire.

Someone figured out in a few seconds that the bullets were not drawing blood because they were blanks and the exercise was a drill, designed to test Pine Eagle's preparation for an assault by "active shooters" who were, in reality, members of the school staff. But those few seconds left everybody plenty scared.

They weren't expecting a drill like this, and they were caught by surprise when the two men entered and began firing.